This is Throwback Thursday #251. In these, we look back into the past at ESCONI specifically and Earth Science in general. If you have any contributions, (science, pictures, stories, etc …), please send them to esconi.info@gmail.com. Thanks! email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

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25 Years Ago – February 2000

• The General Meeting featured Doris and Russ Kemp speaking about Agates.  The title of their presentation was “Agates – That Beautiful Lapidary Material”.
• The Minerology/Micromount Study Group was looking at fluorencent minerals from Langban, Sweden.
• Mazon Creek fossils were the focus of the Paleontology Study Group.
• Archaeology was learning about the baskets of the Southwest.  How were they made and with what materials.
• Announcements for the 2000 edition of the ESCONI Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show appeared in the newsletter.  It would be held at the College of DuPage.
• The ESCONI Keys Plant and Animal books were reprinted for the upcoming the show.
• Karen’s Komments was highlighting some new dinosaur finds and potential pack hunting by Deinonychis and similar animals.

50 Years Ago – February 1975

• The General Meeting presentatiion was done by ESCONI member Harold McCleery.  He spoke about “Our National Parks and Monuments”.
• The Mineralogy Study Group was discussing “Minerals and Man”.
• John Ade did a presentation on Williamsburg, Virginia for the Archaeology Study Group.
• The Micromount of the Month was Augite. Dick and Doris Ade collected some beautiful crystals near Haleakala Crater, Maui, Hawaii.
• On January 17th, 1975, the Joliet Herald News had a story about the potential flooding of Pit 11 to create the cooling pond for the nuclear power plant.

70 Years Ago – February 1955

• The General Meeting’s topic was “Crystallography” by ESCONI member Roy Beghtol, who was one of the founders of ESCONI.
• The Riverside Juniors were learning about Aluminum, while the Downers Grove Juniors discussed Silicon.
• The first field trip for 1955 was announced as a behind the scenes tour of the Rocks and Minerals Departments at the Chicago Natural History Museum (Field Museum).
• Jay Farr’s “The Earth is Born” lecture at the January General Meeting was well received.
• The Earth Science lectures at Downers Grove High School would be starting up again February.  The lecturer was Dr. Ben Hur Wilson.
• The Paleontology Study Group was discussing some interesting topics – Carbon 14 dating by Dr. James Arnold of the University of Chicago and the Miller/Urey experiments to understand the origin of life.